Superiority Burger - Vegan Favorite, Hugely Upgraded! NY Times "Critic's Pick"!

NOTE: This small meetup event filled up right away, but it will definitely be expanded. Please RSVP for the Waiting List. We will be moving people up to the regular RSVP list. (You will get an email when you are moved up, or you can check back here any time.) We look forward to seeing you.

We've been inspired by Superiority Burger's hugely upgraded new location and a June 27th rave review in the New York Times (awarded a "Critic's Pick") to have a small meetup there.

Here's half of the 6/27/2023 New York Times rave review (and "Critic's Pick"):

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Restaurant Review: Superiority Burger Has the Courage of Its Quirks

Sub-Headline: Brooks Headley could have cloned his wildly popular vegetarian spot. Instead, its new space doubles down on idiosyncrasy.

June 27, 2023 by Pete Wells

The new Superiority Burger on Avenue A is about 10 times larger than the original, a 240-square-foot below-grade box on East Ninth Street that was outgrown “on the first day,” according to Brooks Headley, the chef and an owner.

The second location finally has room for tables, chairs and other stuff like that. It has space, too, for things that you will not find in any other all-vegetarian and frequently vegan burger restaurant, things that seem to be there only because Mr. Headley and his co-conspirators asked a lot of questions that started, “Wouldn’t it be cool … ”

Like: Wouldn’t it be cool if we hung a small marquee over the sidewalk, like a small club, but instead of announcing a Bambi Kino reunion the sign would advertise our rhubarb pandowdy?

Wouldn’t it be cool if we made a bar-snack mix that everybody would want, and sold it for a quarter — an actual quarter — out of a turn-the-crank vending machine, like Chiclets or kibble at a petting zoo?

Wouldn’t it be cool if the paper place mats had ads for businesses that sound like they belong on Main Street in a one-stoplight hamlet in the Adirondacks but are actually operating today in the East Village (a sewing-machine repair shop, a rubber-stamp supplier, a 138-year-old drugstore and more)?...

Sitting in a booth at Superiority Burger for an hour or so gives you a stronger sense of place than reading some novels. Before Mr. Headley took over the lease, 119 Avenue A was the site of Odessa Restaurant, a Greek-owned coffee shop that descended from a Ukrainian-owned coffee shop next door. The neighborhood’s past bubbles up throughout the menu. (And not just the menu — I’d swear my bartender, Fowzy Butt, has poured drinks for me at half a dozen other places around Tompkins Square, some of which have been closed for 20 years.)

Most obviously, there is stuffed cabbage, once available at a dozen Ukrainian and Polish kitchens in the East Village, though it was rarely filled with such a savory blend of mushrooms and sticky rice, or covered with a tomato-ginger gravy darkened with fresh blackberries. Are the vinegared beets with fresh dill, fried hard-pretzel shards and dense schmears of jalapeño cream cheese a sideways glance at borscht?

What about the collards sandwiched between triangles of the airy, sesame-crusted focaccia that, at the old Superiority Burger, became appointment eating — Focaccia Fridays? (The sign over the door on Avenue A now promises, cautiously, “Focaccia Sometimes.”) Is it my imagination, or are the wrung-out, lightly soured greens a homage to spanakopita, which used to be on Odessa’s menu? Or maybe not — the cheese is Cheddar, not feta. In any case, it’s a spectacular sandwich. ...

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We will take our food across the street to Tompkins Square Park after ordering, for a beautiful summer night dinner under the stars.

WHERE TO MEET: Superiority Burger is at 119 Avenue A (bet. E. 7th St. & St. Marks Pl.) Meet the group right on line at Superiority Burger, and get on line to place your order. For new members, David will be holding a "VEG MEETUP" sign.

To Our New Members: We are an extremely friendly and welcoming group. Come to the meetup and make new friends! We are delighted to meet you, and to welcome you to the group.

Trains Directions: Take the F Train to 2nd Avenue. (And exit the train station via the 1st Avenue exit.) Or, take the L Train to 1st Avenue.

Looking forward to visiting the hugely upgraded Superiority Burger, now a New York Times Critic's Pick!

David